Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

So I've been thinking back - and reading back - to when I first started with Heather's Diet and the Diet and Recipe Boards, and I've realized there are four old posts and threads that have stuck in my mind. Each of them helped me in a different way, but all were valuable in getting me to accept that I had IBS; vigorously pursue Heather's diet to deal with it; understand Heather's diet; and understand one of the major pitfalls in following the diet.

I'm passing them along as a sentimental gesture and in hopes that they will help someone else as much as they helped me.

The Guinea Pig: starring ecmmbm, SharonMello, and KinOz - This whole thread - and especially KinOz' "I hear you" post - helped me stop chasing every potential cause and possible cure, accept I had IBS, and start doing something about it

LauraSue's 9 month milepost - All of LauraSue's milepost posts are worth reading, but in this one I was really struck by her reference to taking her meds "aggressively rather than reluctantly". It helped me directly, by getting me to use Imodium as often as I needed to feel better and by getting me to talk seriously to my GI about prescription meds.
Perhaps even more important, once I generalized "aggressively rather than reluctantly" to following Heather's diet, I found I could think of cooking, new recipes, reading labels, quizzing waiters, and all the other new tasks I had to learn as a chance to reclaim my life, rather than a lifetime sentence of deprivation.

HanSolo on pickles - Heather's diet in less than 75 words. All else is commentary. You rock, Alicia.

LittleMinnie on Identifying Triggers - A classic in the annals of the IBS diet. Quite simply the best explanation of why it's important not to eat that stuff no matter how sure we are it's not hurting us. I've always thought this one was great, but it has particular significance for me now, since I've spent the last 6 weeks eating triggers that "didn't bother me" - until a few days ago when they all caught up with me at once.

These four examples are particularly outstanding, but there have been hundreds and hundreds of posts that have helped me understand and actually succed at Heather's diet and I appreciate all of them.

I'm starting to sound like a rock band on yet another farewell tour here and I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps, as much as I hate the fact that I've cheated my way into a major setback, that setback made me realize just how far I had come and how much of that I owe to the people on the Boards. So, thanks.

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

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